Culture Exchange
by Pearlynn
Summary: While they wait to leave for Earth, Allura and Keith spend some time together learning about each other's planetary cultures.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron._

 _ **A/N** Part two of my Kallura one-shot fest. This time: culture exchange._

 _Also, can you guys tell I really don't want to work right now?_

* * *

"I simply do not understand how you can fight with all of this... mess in your eyes."

Keith scowled over his shoulder and made to move out of her hand's reach. "I don't see why it's your concern. I've done just fine with my hair like this."

Allura planted her hands on his shoulders and held him in place. "Yes, but are you sure you want Lance to keep commenting on your 'mullet?' Especially now that it's longer."

His growl was low when he ran his fingers along the hair at his neck. "It's not a mullet. It's all the same length. I don't know why he keeps calling it that."

"What exactly is a mullet?"

Without a second thought, Keith replied, "Business in the front, party in the back."

He glanced over his shoulder and saw her perplexed expression, then he sighed and elaborated, "It's short on the top like Lance's but long in the back like mine. On Earth, rednecks usually are the ones who wear it."

"Rednecks?"

"Hoosiers," he added as he waved his hand flippantly. "Hillbillies. People who live in the mountains and have kids with their siblings."

"Are you a _'red neck'_ , Keith?"

He turned around all the way and sighed with exasperation, "No, I am not. I may be from Texas, but I am not a redneck."

Allura giggled and she ran her hands through his hair again. The action was soothing, especially when her fingernails scraped against his scalp. "Where is this Texas? Is it dangerous?"

Keith snorted and laid his head on the chair next to her leg. "No, it's not dangerous. At least, if you're not in the western part where all that's there is desert and scorpions. It's the biggest state-"

Allura shot him another perplexed look and he corrected, "Providence, in the country, aside from Alaska. But barely anyone lives up there because it's so cold. Texas is hot, dry, and proud. Everything is bigger in Texas."

"Where did you live in this Texas?"

Keith looked off to the side and he shrugged. "I don't really remember. The last thing I can recall was the house I lived in with my dad. He owned some property near the border. After he died, I was sent to the orphanage and then to the Garrison a few years later after Shiro took me in..."

He glanced up at her and noticed she had started fiddling with the hair that curled up at his jaw, right at the scar from his fight with Shiro. Her frown was thoughtful and sad, while her eyes lingered on the discoloration on his cheek.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that," she murmured softly as she met his gaze over his shoulder. He suspected she wasn't speaking entirely of his past on Earth. With a small reassuring smile, she started brushing his bangs out of his eyes and started pulling it back into a bun similar to hers. "But I suppose your life events led you here, to Voltron and to me. So I would say that there's some good in it all."

As her fingers scratched his scalp, Keith felt himself melting into her. He let his eyes flutter closed and he hummed as he started scooting closer to her leg. "What about you? Where did you live in Altea?"

Allura's fingers paused for a short moment, as if she was in deep thought, then they started rubbing his scalp again as she replied, "I lived in the capital city, Raimon. The Castle of Lions was stationed there, and that was where my mother and father typically led the people. For the most part, it was pleasant. There would be an occasional rock shower or two, but they were so sparse it wasn't really a big concern of mine."

"Rock shower?"

"Razor-sharp and boiling rocks falling from the sky?" she asked as she stilled her fingers and looked down at him. "Do you not have that on Earth?"

Keith stared up at her with shock and he said, "Uh, no. We have rain, which is just water. There's snow, too, which is frozen rain."

Allura's eyebrows furrowed. "That doesn't sound threatening at all."

"It's actually quite relaxing," he murmured as he laid his head back down and closed his eyes. "Especially thunderstorms in the distance... Nothing beats those."

"Do you miss your home, Keith?"

He opened his eyes and stared towards the ceiling, mind wandering back to his time on Earth. He remembered how he always felt like an outcast, never truly fitting in, and how the world seemed too small and quiet for his always-racing mind. He now contributed that restless feeling to his Galra heritage, begging him to explore and to fight and to _live._ He never had that on Earth.

"No," he replied honestly. "There was nothing for me there... I had no purpose. Now I do. And even though we've been gone for... I don't know, maybe years? I don't feel the need to go back like the others. Earth never felt like a home for me. I feel more at home here with you guys than I ever did there."

Allura met his eyes with a warm smile and she cupped his cheek with her hand. "And I am glad for that. We all love you like family, and we are happy that you're back here with us."

"Thank you," he whispered as he pressed his face into her hand and relaxed. "It's been a while since I've had family."

"I have felt the same, as well," she stated as she moved to work with his hair again. "When my father died, I thought I lost everything. There was no hope, but in time you all have become my family. And I treasure you all."

For a while, they sat in silence as she ran her fingers through his hair, fiddling with different Altean styles just to take it out and do something different. She had just finished undoing several braids when she asked, "Just now, you said something about years. What exactly is a year for you?"

Keith mulled his lips and he shrugged. "Uh, well it's twelve months in our time. But it's essentially when our planet orbits around our sun in a complete revolution."

"Interesting... the way you humans interpret time is very different than Alteans."

"Time probably flows differently depending where you are in space," Keith commented offhandedly. He barely noticed Allura had stopped playing with his hair and had looked at him questionably. "When I was with my mom in the quantum abyss, two years passed for me when it was only weeks for you guys. Also, time isn't necessarily constant. Different beings probably perceive time differently, I mean different cultures on Earth perceived it differently so it's entirely plausible for it to be different between the species of the universe."

When he looked up at Allura again, he saw the impressed and surprised look on her face. A smug smile pulled at his lips and he remarked, "What? I paid attention in school when I was going."

"Very impressive, Keith," she replied, her eyes shimmering with intrigue. "A typical revolution on Altea was around ten pheeban, which is why one revolution was called a decapheeb. One pheeban was roughly twenty quintants. We were close to our star so decapheebs passed quickly, and the typical Altean lived for hundreds. Coran is close to 800 decapheebs old, and I am closer to 400."

Keith's eyes bulged and he choked on his spit. "Fah-four _hundred_?"

"What? How old are you in Earth years?"

He averted his gaze and said in an awkward voice, "Uh... I just turned nineteen before I left for my mission with the Blades... And with the time in the abyss, I'm technically twenty-one."

Allura's hands stilled and she stared down at him like he had just grown a second head. "Only _twenty-one?!_ Oh, by the ancients you're practically a child!"

"Hey, in Earth standards I'm an adult."

Allura snorted and gave his hair a gentle tug. "On Altea, you would still be considered children. No wonder none of you could pass the fight simulator."

Keith could only glare, because Allura started giggling and pulling his hair back once more. He felt her tie it off then pluck out some of the pieces that would frame his face. Her smile was infectious, especially when she patted him on the shoulders and declared she was finished.

"Now, I expect you to do your hair like this from now on. It won't get in your eyes anymore, that is for certain."

Keith stood and approached the mirror propped against her wall, then admired her handywork. Just as she promised, there wasn't much hair in his eyes save for a few bangs parted to the right and forelocks by his ears. The rest was pulled back into a practical ponytail at the nape of his neck.

"It looks good. Thank you."

Allura had stood as well and was now behind him, her eyes wistful as she looked up at him through the mirror. "That was how my father wore his hair. It was very practical and easy. His hair was a little more coarse than yours so you might have to redo it more often than he."

He turned around and gave her a small smile. "Thank you. Though, I could have done this myself."

She swatted at his arm. "Oh, hush."

Keith snatched her wrist out of the air and held it loosely in front of him. The astonished look on her face was imprinted in his mind, from the way her plush lips parted in a soft gasp and her eyes widened and sparkled in the low lights.

"Really," he said softly, conveying his earnest appreciation of their time spent together, and he closed his other hand around the ones that were already joined together. "I feel like it's been so long since I've talked to any of you guys. It's nice to finally relax a little before we jump right into the next mission."

Her smile was bright and she somewhat leaned towards him, and his wishful thinking begged that it was because she wanted to hold more than his hand, and she replied just as softly, "Tomorrow we'll go back on course for Earth. I'm glad to have learned a little bit more of your home before we arrived."

"And although I never got to see Altea, I'm glad I got to learn about it, too."

The brightness of her smile doubled and Keith felt blessed that he was able to see it. Ever since the incident with Lotor, her smiles had been few and far in between. He felt compelled to coax as many as he could out of her just to bring things back to a semblance of normalcy.

"It lives on in my memories," she replied with a soft air that made his chest feel tight. She took a step back, her hand falling out of his grip, and she clasped it around her opposite elbow. There wasn't any sadness in her voice, just a wistful respect that had grown to replace the bitter tone she took when she spoke of her destroyed home planet. "Altea was a beautiful place, and I miss it, but I know that there's no point in dwelling on things that I cannot change. As long as Altea is here - " she pointed to her heart, " - it will never be gone."

"A wise observation," Keith said. Allura's cheeks turned that ruddy color again. His heart thundered against his ribs. "I don't think I can ever have such poetic words about Earth."

"Maybe because Earth isn't your home," Allura suggested. At his quirked eyebrow, she elaborated, "You said it yourself. Maybe you just need to find the place that you consider home and you'll have those poetic words, too."

A place to consider home...? Feeling emboldened in the moment, Keith stepped towards her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as he gave her another smile. That blush returned to her cheeks when his fingers grazed her skin. "I think I'll come up with some words sooner or later."

He could see her swallow as she gave him a shaky nod and replied, "Of course. And please, do tell me them. I'd love to see what you will come up with."

His smile broadened and he lowered his hand away, internally mourning the loss of the touch of her soft skin. "Of course. Anything for you, Allura."

Keith could tell she wanted to say something more on the matter, her eyes a little lidded and mouth pliant to form around her elegant words, but their communicators both started beeping and the spell was broken. Allura sighed and dropped her head as she pulled hers out, which had a message open on the screen.

"It seems Coran needs my assistance with finishing the ship," she stated with a heavy and disappointed breath. She met Keith's gaze once more and gave him a sympathetic smile before taking a tentative step back. "I'll be heading off, then. See you around?"

Keith could only nod, his gaze drawn to the smattering of red on her cheeks and the way her lips moved when she spoke. He was transfixed, enchanted, spellbound by her. And his words would once again fail him.

As the door slid shut behind Allura, Keith groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

So much for a bold moment.

* * *

 _fin._


End file.
